Cargo Ships and Diamond Drives Could Connect the Quantum Internet

How yesterday's technology could helps us realize the internet of the future.

Quantum computing, hailed as the internet of the future, has a problem. While it has the potential to blow away the speed of today's web, researchers are still trying to figure out how quantum computing could reliably move mass quantities of data across vast distances.

But some researchers in Tokyo have figured out a way that old technology could bridge this gap in emerging technology. They're just going to ship data as seagoing freight.

Wait, what? Let's back up.

The concept of quantum teleportation represents the near-instant transmission of information using quantumly entangled particles to replicate information at two different points. It was first successfully demonstrated in 1998 at Caltech, and has scaled up to atoms since then. But the top distance yet realized is 143 miles. That's good enough to transmit information from New York City to Philadelphia, for example, but too short for Philadelphia to relay that data to DC. And repeaters run the risk of losing the information transmitted. In other words, there's no quantum world wide web on the near horizon.

So how will we ship large volumes of information across vast distances? We'll just ship it the old fashioned way. Simon Devitt and his team at Ochanomizu University imagined the quantum information of the future placed on diamond hard drives. Quantum information will replicate binary information, with diamond having a low error rate, preventing data loss. Those quantum hard drives will be put in shipping containers like server racks and moved from port to port on transport ships.

Once the ships arrive at port, the precious information cargo could be entangled and sent out across the regional quantum network at near light speed. It may not be instant, but for moving large volumes of information, sending it on hard physical medium just might be the answer.

For now, we'll have to be content with fiber optic cables under the ocean for day-to-day internet needs. To move large volumes of information, the world of tomorrow may well be a combination of the old and new.

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